RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Shibboleths of the Damned

Inevitably in discussions about Christianity, gay rights, the church in general, etc. some well educated fool throws out the shellfish and mixed fabric clothing line.

Leviticus 11:10-11 reads, “But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.”

Likewise, Leviticus 19:19 reads, “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

“Because Leviticus also condemns homosexuality, whenever this subject comes up and a Christian says that homosexuality is condemned in the Bible, the person in favor of gay rights immediately throws out shellfish and fabric. In fact, often times the person who throws out the shellfish and mixed fabric line claims to be a Christian — one of those Christians with a mind so open to everything it is full of nothing.

Dear well meaning poseur, atheist, and other people hostile to Christianity — these are shibboleths of the damned. If you throw these out, it is an immediate signal you are more likely than not destined for hell fire.

If you claim to be a Christian and throw these lines out, you are either not a Christian, instead worshiping a god you’ve created, or you are a Christian so ignorant about your faith you should probably go learn about your faith before choosing to engage others, thereby leading them astray.

The Levitical rules were designed for the Israelites to show then how far they were from leading a Godly life. It was designed to show them how much they needed God.

When Christ came, he superseded fulfilled the law. Acts 10:15 tells us “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Romans 10:4 tells us “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Galatians 3:24-26 teaches

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

I’m sure some of you who raise the Levitical prohibitions think you are making a good faith argument tied to Christian practice and behavior today. But you really are not making a good argument. You certainly are not even making a clever or credible argument toward Christians.

The problem is not the Levitical prohibitions on homosexuality, but that the New Testament reaffirms those prohibitions. See e.g. Rom 1:26–27; 1 Cor 6:9–10; and 1 Tim 1:9–10.

At this point you’re left with claiming Paul wasn’t Jesus and Jesus never spoke about homosexuality. But there’s that problem with Matthew 19, so you’ll just ignore Matthew 19:4-5 and claim that because the header in your Bible says “Teaching About Divorce”, Jesus was not talking about marriage.

This, by the way, is why liberal Christians are so invested in the notion the Bible is not God-breathed. Once they dismiss that, they can dismiss Paul and the other Apostles when they disagree with them. It’s also why so called “Red Letter Christians” are a bunch of charlatans and frauds. These clowns claim to only follow the red letters in the Bible, i.e. what Christ himself said. They just ignore Matthew 19:4-5, Luke 10:16, Matthew 28:20. They engage in word games the rest of us do not have to.

So long story short — if you want to make some sort of argument about sin, please stop embarrassing yourself by trying to make it Levitical. And please understand that when you trot out the shibboleths of the damned, actual Christians immediately recognize your ignorance and start praying for your soul.

One last note on this. For those of you who claim to be a Christian who worship your own personal Jesus instead of the real one — many of you too rely on the shibboleths of the damned and those of us committed to the gospel really must wonder if you’re sincerely a Christian or just posing as one out of some sense of tradition, standing in your community, or just maliciously posing to undermine the faith.

And if at this point you think I’m judging you and crying about it, let me go on and say you really aren’t a Christian or, more charitably, you are too ignorant of your faith to have standing in these cases. You’ve clearly forgotten about 1 Corinthians 5:12-13.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

I have no use for “Christians” who peddle a Christianity conforming to the world proclaiming the Gospel of Me. Jesus would not recognize a Christianity that says “it’s okay to be me” because it’s not. We all fall short of the glory of God. We’re to come as ourselves and depart this world more Christ like — not to wallow in our sins thinking we’re fine and don’t need to work through a process of sanctification. The Christian gospel is just another pagan religion if we stop at “come as you are” never getting to “be born again.” Grace is not without obedience and obligation, if only out of gratitude. So please, for the love of all that is decent and Holy, come up with better arguments than the shibboleths of the damned.